A project at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen hopes to shed more light on the vexed topic of childhood obesity. The RASCAL (Rowett Assessment of Childhood Appetite and Metabolism) initiative is run by Dr Diane Jackson. She chose to concentrate on children from the age of two to six because this is when many lifelong habits form. There is little information specifically relating to pre-school children.
The three-year study is funded by the Scottish Executive amid fears that obesity is reaching epidemic proportions in Scotland. Dr Jackson says, 'Over the past 20 to 30 years obesity levels have doubled, if not tripled, even in the pre-school age group. It is essential that we come up with solutions to this problem.'
Cause and effect
So far, 46 families have volunteered to be part of the project, whose main aim is to investigate how much influence different factors have on a child's susceptibility or resistance to becoming overweight. Is it the increase in fatty food consumption combined with a decrease in activity levels that is to blame? Or should we be looking more at genetic factors?
Dr Jackson works with children of all shapes and sizes and looks at lifestyle issues, as well as food consumption and genetics. She says, 'If parents are overweight or obese, their children are much more likely to be overweight. But it is really important to have families who are not overweight to look at what is different about them.
'Not every member of the family has to take part, but we like to measure parents and siblings. We are looking at how a family environment affects children and their feeding behaviour and parents are influential.'
Participants are asked to wear special wristbands for a week, which monitor their movements; to keep a diary of their food consumption and to complete lifestyle questionnaires.
They are then invited to the Institute's Human Nutrition Unit for one morning to have their metabolism and body composition - height, weight, percentage of body fat and oxygen consumption - measured.
Findings so far have proved that Scottish children are very inactive, even at a young age. According to Dr Jackson's representative sample, youngsters are inactive for about 77 per cent of their day. Time spent in moderate to vigorous activity represented a mere 2 per cent of waking hours at age three, and 5 per cent for five-year-olds. This represents only 20-25 minutes per day (less than half of what is recommended for children).
Target groups
Ultimately, Dr Jackson wants to target the ages at which children are at risk of becoming obese with appropriate public health measures. For example, if she finds that children are inactive at a particular time of day, she would want to target that time of day in a child-friendly, accessible way with some kind of physical activity programme.
'We must make it fun for children,' she says. 'We want to increase their lifestyle exercise.' She stresses the importance of making use of what is available in the form of parks, activity classes and games used in the home and to test them scientifically.
'A lot of public health initiatives are tried, but not really tested to see if they work,' she says. 'Even if they don't work, by evaluating them we can still learn from them.
'We have to give parents information and then see if it works in the real world. If we find statistically what makes a difference, we can give our views to the Government and the Food Standards Agency.'
While Dr Jackson despairs of the high energy dense foods that are targeted at children, particularly on television, she is optimistic that things are beginning to change. Some ranges are trying to be more healthy and incorporate vegetables and minerals, and the Government is addressing the problem by appointing physical activity co-ordinators and a 'Hungry for Success' initiative in schools.
Dr Jackson's research should give a better understanding of the development of childhood obesity. This in turn will provide health professionals with advice on its prevention and treatment. She says, 'This is so important on an individual level, on a family level and for our whole society.'
